Ironman wheels

Robyouth

Hi, I'm doing the ironman in japan this year, I think a set of carbon wheels would help on this hilly course (2000m of climbing) I have no experiance of carbon wheels, but I need a pair to race and train on. I'm not sure about full carbon, or carbon with alloy braking surface. I done have a huge budget,advice please .

iPete

In my own experience, I just used what I had (Shimano RS80) but Bolton I think was a fair bit hillier. Then again, all I did was add Tri bars, did it in a mtb helmet SPD shoes etc. didn't see the point in spending ££££ on one race for little or no gain.

What's wrong with what you are riding on now? On a budget Planet X do aero clincher rims, alloy with carbon fairings.

ai_1

Are you looking for a weight reduction because of the hills, an aero improvement by getting deep rims or both?
Just changing the rim material to carbon isn't going to magically make you faster unless it achieves something beyond what your current wheels provide (i.e. aerodynamic or weight improvement)
If all else stays the same I imagine you may even lose speed with carbon braking surfaces if you're less confident in your brakes and slow more and earlier on descents and entering corners.

What are your current wheels?

cycleclinic

droping 100 or 200g from your wheel weight will not make you faster a deeper more aero rim will though unless your currently wheels do that sort of thing well.

Carbon braking surfaces are good in the dry but in the wet they can be a bit more challanging. Also for hilly routes with long decents were you might be on the brakes you might want a branded rim unless you know the road is one were braking will be minimal. Tubular carbon rims deal with heat build up a little better and gigantex do a 50mm one which is available in the U.K which is alot cheaper than ENVE rims but then again the ENVE rim has high Tg resins in it you would hope so though for £700 per rim.

cougie

If its hilly - I'd go for carbon with a braking surface - carbon alone isnt the best -and if its wet - eek.

I don't see why you cant train on your existing wheels though and save the race wheels til nearer the day ?

If it is a climbing course then you may be better off with lighweight alloy wheels ? Carbon is great for aero deep rims - but thats better for the flats ?

ugo.santalucia

An iron man is 12 hours, carbon rims might save you 2 minutes at best... if you want to boost your performance, consider doping... it's against the rules, but morally it's the same thing, you are paying money to get an advantage, but the advantage is a lot bigger if it spreads over all the three disciplines...

Joeblack

Iv recently purchased some carbon aero wheels and although they look good I'll be honest and say I haven't really seen any difference in performance, this is probably due to me being a mediocre cyclist and not benefiting from marginal gains.

That said I enjoy them and if you want a set then why not, I doubt they'll affect your performance in a negative way

Robyouth

I forgot, I'm thinking that being aero is the most usefull thing with the wheels, but the rotating weight loss will help as well.

Robyouth

My current rims are alloy shimano RS 20, they have done a few thousand miles so are getting to he point where they need replacing any way. I'll use them for a comuting/wet weather bike until they die.

cycleclinic

Aero wheels do help here's a link that goes into the physics for you. It will be worth more than 2 minutes over 12 hours as well. Reducing weight will have almost no effect which is why TT riders do not worry about weight much but the good one's are light to begin with that helps more. RS20's are low spoke count so reasonably aero anyway so the gains from deep carbon wheels will not be as great as if you were on high spoke count wheels which is why Joeblack has probably not noticed any difference. The aero gains will be noticed more on long ridea as those few watts saved means you tire more slowly if you keep a constant output. If you constaintly exceed your FTP on sprints up hills then aero wheels will not help at all.

http://www.aeroweenie.com/assets/backup ... ition.html